A Trio of Young Boxers to Open Youth World Championships Action for the United States on Thursday in Armenia

(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – The official event draw for the 2012 Youth World Championships took place on Wednesday in Yerevan, Armenia with the brackets being set for all of the 10 contested weight classes. Three American boxers will open action for their team on Thursday with bantamweight Gary Salazar (Fresno, Calif.), light flyweight Noberto Torres (Inverness, Fla.) and light welterweight Julian Rodriguez (Paterson, N.J.) will competing on the first day of the tournament.

Salazar will take the ring first, facing Tajikistan’s Shavkatbek Negmatov in bantamweight action in the afternoon session. Torres and Rodriguez will compete in evening action, taking on England’s Jack Bateson and Movladdin Biyarslanov of Canada respectively.

The remaining three U.S. boxers will compete on Friday in their opening round bouts. Lightweight Maliek Montgomery (Macon, Ga.) will be the first U.S. boxer in compete on the second day of action as he faces Sahan Aybay of Germany in the afternoon session. Flyweight Edmundo Guzman (Las Cruces, N.M.) will battle Aldonis Suguro of Indonesia while light heavyweight Anthony Sims, Jr. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) takes on Lithuania’s Edgar Liman in evening action.

The U.S. team is being led by Christopher Barela (Las Cruces, N.M.), Michael Montgomery (Macon, Ga.), and Gilberto Salazar (Fresno, Calif.).

The Youth World Championships, which take place every two years, began in 1979 with Yokohama, Japan hosting the inaugural event. The 2010 edition was the largest in the event’s history and full participant numbers for the 2012 event will be announced following the event draw.

Preliminary round action will run from November 29-December 2 with quarterfinal competition on December 3 and 4. Following the rest day, semifinal action will be contested on December 6 and the event will conclude with championship bouts on December 7.

The Youth World Championships will be the first major international event for all of the U.S. competitors and will give them key experience heading into a new quadrennial. For additional information on the 2012 Youth World Championships, go to www.aiba.org